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Hi. This is my first post. I did search the archives some to see if it my
questions been answered, but I was confused.
I think I may be a celiac, but I’m not sure. I have always been thin, but
not dangerously so. I’m now 49, 5’6 ½”, and 117 pounds. I suspected I was
a celiac about 6 years ago. I began baking my own bread, and I liked it a
lot. I had never been a big bread eater, but I loved this. I was eating a
half a (small) loaf a day. I got rashes on my fingers and toes, and other
places, that just would not go away. I finally read this was a symptom of a
dermatological form of celiac disease. I gave up wheat, and the rashes went
away. I thought that was the end of it. I have mostly been avoiding wheat,
and other sources of gluten, ever since.
About 2 years later, my family doctor ran 2 blood tests for the antigen. I
can’t remember what they were called. The less accurate one was positive,
and the more accurate one was inconclusive. She wanted to set me up with a
GI doctor for a biopsy, but I declined. My insurance is only catastrophic,
and I didn’t want to pay for it, and go on record as being a celiac, if I
was only going to avoid wheat anyway.
Fast forward. Now I’m not concerned about rashes. I got a poor bone scan
result. About -1.7. I read that celiacs are at high risk for osteoporosis
and many other bad things, so now I don’t want to guess anymore.
I read on another list that mostly avoiding wheat, but eating some at
special celebrations about twice a year, is no good. If I’m a celiac, I
need to TOTALLY avoid gluten. That’s a huge sacrifice for if I’m just
going by a wild guess that I’m even a celiac. My initial symptoms could
have been caused by many things. I’m allergic to a lot of things, including
yeast. Obviously, home baked bread would have lots of yeast.
I want to know if I’m a celiac. Not just sensitive. I’m sensitive to just
about everything. I want to know if this is something that could dissolve
my bones.
The problem, I’m told, is that since I have been mostly avoiding wheat for
about 6 years, I may be untestable. So, what should I do? Begin eating
wheat again? I had some cookies yesterday on that theory. No digestive
distress at all (there never has been for wheat, I don’t think). No rash
outbreak. I do seem tired and irritable today, but that could be anything too.
Are those 2 blood test the only thing I can get? What about stool tests?
Is a biopsy at this point a waste of time?
Thanks very much for any help anyone can give me.
Linda
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